Witnessing the frightening spectacle of what was once considered an objective media herding the masses with relative ease, gives cause for considerable alarm.  To use a sports analogy, there is every reason to believe that the people are about to promote a rookie to head coach.  Should it in fact become the case, the people have just granted the media the power to tell them how to think.  Said differently, it appears that the people have lost the ability to think for themselves.

When you consider that a first term senator with absolutely no experience at the executive level, no experience in business or industry, no record of accomplishment in driving any significant project in any capacity stands at the threshold of becoming the next President of the United States, something, as they say, would seem amiss.  Considering it in those terms, with the addition that this illusion, manifesting itself as a political deity, successfully defeated the hardball Clinton political machine, that tingly feeling should be from the hair standing up on the back of your neck. 

What we do know about the omnipotent one who would be our leader, is that before he got the leading role in the George Soros production of “The Man Who Would be President,” Sen. Obama’s role models were of less than sterling character.  Obama’s sponsors into the world of politics were one Tony Rezko, a political activist and fund raiser, now a convicted felon found guilty of corruption and William Ayers, a former and as yet unrepentant, domestic terrorist. 

A person’s religious choice is a good indicator of their personal perceptions and a window into their view of society.  Factoring in Obama’s association for two decades with religious figure Jeremiah Wright, who by his own words believes that America be condemned to Hades, indicates caution.  Then, there is Father Michael Phlegar, another long time Obama associate, who gives high praise to Louis Farrakhan, a devout Muslim and extreme anti-Semite. 

At issue is the character and values of those with whom Obama has associated and their influence on his character and values, his thinking, judgment, and their effect on the quality of the decisions he would make.  Taken together, his total lack of experience coupled with misfit mentors should automatically disqualify him for the office of president. 

Space does not allow for an in depth discussion of Obama on energy but suffice it to say that every proposal, to include those with an excellent margin for success, are rejected out of hand by his eminence.  As a substitute, he offers another stimulus package and a plan, literally, to tax the rich to give to the poor.  Robin Hood was a mythical character and so too evidently, is Barack Obama. 

By decree, all will have “universal health care.”  The USB port on your computer is universal; it dictates that all who access it must adhere to one standard with no deviation.  A standard over which you have no input, say or control.  Now if that doesn’t give you a warm fuzzy! 

Who then or maybe more appropriate what, is a Barack Obama?  The odds of this man securing the nomination of his party, given his limited experience, his questionable personal associations and obvious floundering for a coherent thought when off script, defy calculation.  His ability to completely contradict himself or say something absolutely insulting to a wide range of voters and then simply dismiss it by saying, “what I said isn’t what I meant,” is breathtaking. 

When President Bush recently urged Congress to lift the moratorium on both domestic and offshore drilling for oil, the response from the Democrats was swift and predictable.  “We can’t drill our way out of this problem,” they cried in unison.  This mantra from the Dems seems to have a twisted bit of reality however, if you think about it in a more literal sense; what they are actually saying is there is no way out of the problem because “We Can’t Drill.”

It was sickening in a nauseating way to watch Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanuel, looking oh-so-serious, stand before the microphone and threaten the oil industry, “use it or lose it.”  According to Rep. Emanuel and most of his colleagues, oil companies already have leases to drill on 68 million acres domestically.  Sounds good right?  What they don’t tell you is that these are unexplored areas.  There are at this point, no known reserves on any of this acreage and that it will take years to decades to complete the exploration phase alone. 

For years, the Democrats have been telling us that: “we are addicted to oil,” we need to develop alternate sources of energy and wean ourselves off fossil fuels.  Wind and solar power are the answer they insist, except they fail to explain just where these windmills and photovoltaic generators would be constructed, the cost of implementation, the infrastructure requirements to connect them to the energy grid and the expected output vs. demand from these “green power houses.”  When you ask them to explain how megawatt generators will meet gigawatt demand, they either change the subject or dismiss it as a temporary technical limitation. 

When you examine the actual results of all the utopian, environmental friendly solutions put forth to date, you realize a net negative impact to the problem.  At best, the amount of fossil fuel required to create an equal part of ethanol fuel is about one to one.  It is not rocket science to understand that there is no reduction in oil demand as a function of using ethanol to power our automobiles. 

When you add the tremendous rise in the price of corn to produce ethanol, the ripple effect that it has had on the price of food and other corn products and especially the serious effect it has had on nations that import corn, you quickly realize that “food for fuel” is not the answer.  While many nations and a growing number here in the United States are calling for a suspension of corn as a base for ethanol, reality is wasted on the Democrats.  It will take more than the dizzying whir of common sense and reality to “drill” common sense into these socialist icons. 

Word is beginning to emerge from geologists who explore for oil, that the combined resources, from crude oil, to shale oil, could equal or exceed the combined reserves of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Kuwait.  When you consider that potential, coupled with the dirge and mantra from the left of “end our dependence on foreign oil,” followed by a refusal to tap our abundance, one can only speculate as to that which serves as their logic.     

Lastly, there is the annoying matter of doing what is in the best interest of this nation and its people.  None of that seems to resonate with Democratic members of Congress, for them it is a calculation of power, control and politics. 

With prices at the pump approaching $ 4.25/gal for regular unleaded gas, and the cost of goods, services and food rising in unison as a function of transportation costs and higher energy prices for manufacturers, the Democrats demagogue, lay blame and propose asinine solutions to the problem.   Raising taxes, punishing oil companies, suing OPEC and pushing fuel costs even higher, while simultaneously slamming the door on the only realistic solution in the now time frame, would seem to indicate that the best interest of this nation is secondary to our liberal towers of intellect. 

As tempers rise along with the price of gas, the majority of the people now want to see our domestic oil reserves tapped.  This sentiment is even true of those who identify themselves as Democrats.  It would appear that the Dems have waddled squarely into the middle of a minefield with regard to their position on drilling for domestic oil.  If they step right, they step in it with their base.  If they step left, they will be stepped on by the American majority.  If they don’t get a clue, cut their losses and their ties with the radical far left and end the moratorium on domestic drilling, come November, this problem may well blow up in their faces. 

If the left is good at anything, they excel at propaganda and obfuscation.  They succeed in this area because they have a powerful tool we call the mainstream media.  In combination with their grassroots operatives, websites, blogs and their media echo chamber, the right will in fact find it has limited volume in the din and roar of the liberal noise machine. 

With the launching of their latest website, “fightthesmears.com,” the left has begun a full out program to label every criticism of Barack Obama as a smear, a racial slur, hate speech, baseless rumors or fear mongering.  By so doing, they hope to deflect charges of any kind that negatively impact Sen. Obama and paint the organization or persons making the charge as having no credibility and guilty of gutter politics. 

There also appears to be an effort by the left to monitor conservative blogs and websites and create as much agitation and angst as possible among conservatives who post comments to articles favoring the conservative perspective or message.  What is clear is that there is an intentional effort to drown out or discredit any information coming from the right that can harm their chances in the November elections.  

The campaign by the left to essentially shut down the voice of the right is compounded by the fact that the conservative members of the Republican Party are less than enamored with their candidate.  Not only are conservatives dissatisfied with John McCain, they also happen to represent the party base.  What is left are disgruntled Hillary Clinton supporters, so-called moderates and self-proclaimed independents.  All of which, are quite susceptible to the liberal spin juggernaut. 

The elections in November may prove historic in a number of ways.  Not only will there be the first “Black” nominee ever for the office of president, the balance of power may not only shift left, it may gather a majority that can override the only effective tool Republicans now hold and that is the filibuster.  Should that become the case, the Democrats would have control of four key issues: Success in Iraq, taxes, domestic oil exploration and most importantly the Supreme Court. 

On Iraq, Barack Obama has already stated with clarity that he will begin a “phased” withdrawal of troops from Iraq, and plans to begin implementation as soon as he takes office.  Such a move to establish a timeline for which al Queda, al Sadr and Iranian special groups could depend, would guarantee a strategy that could essentially be considered the “3 Rs.”   Regroup, rearm and wreak havoc.

The Democrats also intend, at a minimum, to let the Bush tax cuts expire in 2010.  Consider a shrinking paycheck, coupled with the ever-increasing price of gas, underscored by a policy that refuses to tap domestic sources of oil.  Change?  Believe it! A change in the very way we live from the price to heat our homes, our ability to travel, increases in the price of food, not to mention the negative impact to our quality of life.

Most important of all however, will be the pending makeup of the Supreme Court.  The court’s most recent decision to essentially grant terrorist detainees access to the U.S. Court system is a key example.  By the narrow decision of the liberal members of the court, they not only ignored precedent, they in essence overruled themselves in their previous ruling regarding military tribunals and thumbed their noses at the Constitution.  Should the Democrats hold the power to not only nominate Supreme Court Justices but also hold a filibuster proof majority, judicial activism of this extreme could become the rule and not the exception. 

This is what is at stake and the consequences that could result, should the Democrats be successful in silencing the voice of the right.  That campaign is in full swing from demonizing talk radio, agitating conservative publications and websites, to media manipulation and attempts to make non-conforming outlets such as FOX News the focus of ridicule.  Lest we find ourselves not only without a voice but a lid on our exercise of free speech, it is a time to lift up our voices, and loudly.  As a footnote, we don’t necessarily have to be polite about it either.  

The United States Senate is said to be “the world’s greatest deliberative body.”  What is obvious from watching this “great body” propose every alternative under the sun to address skyrocketing gas prices, while avoiding the real solution, is that one word in that statement requires change.  The word deliberative must be changed to debilitated. 

The reason for high prices for gas and oil products is simple.  A highly productive nation with a very strong economy requires a lot of energy to keep it going.  That energy comes from oil, a product for which we now “outsource” the greatest percentage of our requirement. In short, we have no control of the supply for our growing demand

The solution for this problem is equally simple; exploit the vast quantities of our domestic resources.  What does the great-debilitated body propose?  Rebates, treat oil companies as monopolies, tax the hand that energizes them, reduce their incentive to provide that energy and chastise them for not pursuing alternatives that would put them out of business. 

Two factors must be satisfied to move our energy infrastructure away from being predominately fueled by oil.  The obvious first is the development of an alternative.  Secondly, we must accept that oil will be the main source of energy until that alternative is commercially available.  The only obstacle between energy independence in the short term, until we can successfully develop energy alternatives, is a handful of environmental extremists.

While Mexico, Venezuela, Cuba and now even China encroach on rich oil deposits that are well within the waters available to the United States, we are prevented from tapping these reserves because of the environmental lobby.  With the questionable exception of Mexico, the other three nations are openly hostile to the U.S. and are significantly less capable of ensuring environmental protections. 

Not a peep however, out of the rabid enviros as these hostile nations move into the very areas off limits to domestic exploration.  Nor any peep from the great “debilitaters” to put reason above politics and provide leadership in the face of a looming energy calamity.  Oh, I forgot, their inability to do anything other than point fingers, obfuscate and lay blame is all Bush’s fault.   

There are guffaws aplenty over the latest calls from the White House, for investigations into price-fixing or price gouging by oil companies or their subsidiaries.  While there is a degree of justification for snickering at this spectacle, there is also another side of the issue that must be examined. 

It is the politicians, environmental extremists and an agenda driven media that are exploiting the “Big Oil” component of the problem.  By so doing, they have put the focus for solving the problem on the oil companies and away from themselves.  This is political opportunism at its worst.  Now, and in spite of the plethora of facts that are available to demonstrate that the oil problem is clearly one of supply and demand, a great many people still believe that the high price of gas is a function of the “greedy” oil companies.

The president is really between the proverbial rock and hard place here.  If he chooses to explain the issue as one of supply and demand, he is “beholden” to Big Oil.  If he calls for investigations that will prove or disprove any collusion or price-fixing by the oil companies, he is labeled a fool, a panderer and his actions disgraceful.  To his chagrin, there is no win. 

In the meantime, the rest of us continue to suffer the financial sting whenever we are required to refill our gas tanks.  This as the government enjoys their tax share of our gasoline dollar at double the rate of the profit oil companies actually make on that same amount.  So, as the real solution escapes the learned members of Congress, as they salivate over the potential for even greater revenue from an industry they already over-tax and over-regulate, the only ones being gouged are the consumers. 

The now generation are too young to have any true perspective on the "flower power" generation that was the late 60's and early 70's. The tuned out and turned on generation that allowed an unprecedented expansion of government to flourish in their absence.

Additionally, the generation of today has no connection to the near collapse of our form of government from the humiliating slaughter of millions in the aftermath of declaring defeat in Vietnam, to the economic and foreign policy disaster that was Jimmy Carter. 

Today's generation has come full circle, from the growing demand that we declare defeat in Iraq, to the demand that we put price controls on energy, and, in Obama's words, defer to the unacceptable position of third world countries as to what we drive, how much we eat and the temperature at which we heat or cool our homes. 

Those of us who thought we would never live through this madness again are about to relive the sequel of the 60's in the form of Barack Obama. No, this time our starry eyed Utopians are not "tuned out," they emulate the fable of the pied piper.  

Almost everyone on the left and a surprising number of media, journalistic and even political cartoon types on the right, seem to be so agog over the fact that a "Black Man" is the presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party, that the nagging question who he is and what his policies would do to America, is, for them,  moot. 

To those who are so inebriated with the euphoric delight that you have cleansed forever, your racial guilt, a sobering note:  We are electing the person that will lead the United States of America and all the people therein, not an icon of pigmentation.

To paraphrase Martin Luther King, we must look at the person for their character, not the color of their skin.  Far too many seem more mesmerized by an ebony idol than concerned about the consequences of choosing symbolism over substance.